


All Dewdrops Dissolve in Water

by AnxiousAnteater



Category: Littlewood
Genre: Gen, I hope, Little bit of humor, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, little bit of sad, lots of world mechanics and lore headcanons present, not too crazy though, pls read the notes, theyre not present though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22785622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnxiousAnteater/pseuds/AnxiousAnteater
Summary: Dalton finds Willow making wishes at the town square.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	All Dewdrops Dissolve in Water

**Author's Note:**

> Yoooooooo, first fic. I haven't actually written anything in like, 5 YEARS. Trying to shake off the rust. I love Littlewood, and the game gives me some inspo. so get ready for bad writing *sunglasses emoji*

For Willow, waking up early was natural. She was an early bird-- always had been-- but it was more of an ingrained habit now thanks to the many months of traveling the world in pursue of the Dark Wizard. She would still wake up at twilight, her normal routine being eating breakfast and then practicing her wind archery for an hour or so before going back inside to work on her projects. But these days she often found herself at the town square, watching the sunrise.

The sun hadn’t made its appearance over the trees yet, but nighttime was starting to make its exit, shades of light blue creeping up over the horizon as the soft glow of daylight began to radiate out. According to Laura, sunrises in Solemn were delayed a bit due to the fact that their continent was floating so high up in the atmosphere. Willow wondered what the sunrises looked like down under Solemn. She wondered if they even _had_ sunrises down there.

She wondered if Q would ever remember the sunrises they watched together.

Sighing, Willow stuffed a hand into a pocket as she shuffled a bit closer to the fountain, pulling out a handful of dewdrops. Cool, clean water splashed up out of the central spout and showered down into the shallow pool below, mimicking the sound of a warm spring rain on a pond. She had designed it this way on purpose, and was glad that Q had followed the blueprint so closely.The sound of rain always helped clear her mind, but rain was rare in these parts of Solemn.

Picking a dewdrop at random to hold between her finger and thumb, Willow flicked one in, the bright blue coin diving in with a subtle _ploop_ and disappearing somewhere between the ripples and the bottom of the slate basin.

~*~

For Dalton, few things ranked higher than slimeapples. Sweet, slimy, crispy flesh encased in a thin and tangy skin. With an edible core too! Truly they were the superior fruit—no— the superior food item in all of Solemn! Perhaps the only thing that made him happier than slimeapples was _eating_ slimeapples.

That was why he forced himself to wake up early every morning. While slimeapples were good at any stage just before rotting, there was a very small window for that perfect ripeness, and it was usually at dawn. Q kept very good care of the town’s orchard (he expected nothing less from his bestie, the legendary hero!), and when Dalton saw those buds on the slimeapple trees, he knew there would be fruit the very next day, and if he got to them before Dudley got to the cafe, _that_ was prime slimeapple time.

Eyes still closed, he forced himself to roll out of bed, fueled by the thoughts of a tasty breakfast. Grabbing his green headband off of his desk with one hand, Dalton patted his waist with the other to make sure he did indeed have pants on, then shuffled out the door.

The crisp morning air greeted him with a gentle breeze that he responded to with a wide yawn, rubbing his eyes as habit controlled his legs and guided him down the cobblestone paths to the center of town.

The marketplace was quiet, the Gobby merchants having already picked clean the wares that were put up for sale, leaving behind only a pile of dewdrops on the weathered stands. The town well, which stood adjacent to the marketplace and was located directly in the center of Baxafellor, remained the same as it always did, empty bucket swinging as it was teased by the rope that led down to the hungry wompers below. Perhaps at one point the well actually had water in it, but by now it was all dried out, a mere reminder of this town’s distant past.

Dalton did not stop at either of these places though. He kept on going, up behind the town square and to the far west side of town into the community garden.

Being quite possibly the pride and joy of the entire town, Baxafellor’s massive community garden was split into three parts: the northern part being a vast collection of crops, the southern being where the livestock were kept, and smack-dab in the middle was the orchard. Rows of tall, neatly kept and properly fertilized fruit trees that took up enough space to push back the central part of town. The selection ranged from fruits as common as the peachot to those as rare as the wizberry. Q did most of the work in the gardens, their green-thumb remaining long after their memory had gone, but the other townsfolk did their best to help as well. Zana was particularly good at tending to the motato plants, and Dudley knew all there was to know about growing carrots.

Dalton was not at all in the mindset to admire the beauty of the garden however. He wasn’t even awake enough to properly tie his headband on. But even with the haze of sleep still weighing heavy on his eyelids, he could navigate the grove with no issue, and when he stood in front of the slimeapple trees, he reached up and plucked the reddest, shiniest one of the bunch. A slimeapple connoisseur, he called himself. And that would not be an inaccurate title.

 _CRUNCH_.

“Mmm, yum.” He said to himself, chewing loudly despite his mouth being closed. Perfectly ripe. _Perfectly_. Sweet, tangy, and just firm enough to have that crispy bite but also not hurt the jaw. The layer of slime between the skin and the flesh of the fruit oozed out from where he had taken a bite, giving the next chomp a wonderful sweet kick.

The sugar also kicked him.

Wide awake.

“OH YEAAAHHH!” He did a victory pose, plucking another two or three slimeapples and shoving them into his pockets before taking off like a rocket. “WHOOOOO!”

He took a good three laps around Baxafellor before the sugar rush calmed enough for him to be able to actually take in his surroundings, particularly when he zoomed past the town square again and noticed Willow was there. He skidded to a stop, smiling wide and waving wildly. “HEY WILLOW!” He approached her in fast, wide strides, having to stop short to keep himself from bumping into her.

She didn’t respond, verbally or physically. She just stared into the fountain, an oddly sad look on her face.

“Uh… Willow? Helloooooo?” He said, waving a hand in front of her face.

She shot her head up. “Wha-- oh, hey Dalton. What are you doing up this early?”

“Eating slimeapples!” He pulled one from out of his pocket, brushing off the lint before taking a huge bite. “What are you doing out here all mopey?”

“I’m not _moping_. I’m just,” she turned her head back to the fountain, “… wishing.”

He cocked his head to one side. “Wishing?”

“Yeah, you know, the old Solemn myth.” She lifted up a dewdrop and held it towards the sun. “Tossing a coin into a fountain will grant you good luck,” the sunlight beaming through the coin lit it up brilliantly, “but if the coin dissolves, make a wish, and it just may come true.”

Dalton watched her flick the dewdrop in. It floated to the bottom where it sat with all the others that had been tossed in by townsfolk and tourists over the week. It added a beautiful glimmer as the rising sun hit the water just right. It was almost a shame that they would be gone by Monday.

“But… all dewdrops dissolve in water.”

“Yeah...” Her shoulders dropped, that normally sunny disposition she had clouding over as her gaze widened, looking out somewhere that was much farther than the fountain. She threw in another dewdrop, but Dalton wasn’t so sure it was a conscious decision.

He shuffled on his feet, rotating the slimeapple in his hand that he still hadn’t finished. It was times like these when he wished he was good with words. He was very much _not_ good with words though. He was also just not good in any situation that involved some kind of serious emotion or serious attention. But he was good at one thing...

“Slimeapple?” He asked as he tugged at the fruit that did _not_ want to come out of his jacket pocket. When it finally did pop out, it was with a harsh tug that caused his arm to fling out to the side and nearly launch the fruit into the residential area of town. Willow laughed at the mix of panic and shock that flashed across his face as he clumsily tried to catch the fruit he never even let go of in the first place. “I uh, I picked it this morning!” He presented it to her stiffly, cheeks burning.

“Sure, I haven’t eaten anything yet today.”

They both sat down on a bench in the square, side by side, munching on their snack. This wasn’t the first time they had done this, but it was the first time since Bubsy had moved in that they were able to. It was nice. It reminded Dalton of the times they had breakfast while on their quest. All the times Willow rolled her eyes at his egg jokes or jabbed him in the ribs when he teased Q for having “chronic un-beauty sleep”. Willow always said it was because Q had nightmares, but Dalton didn’t believe that. They slept like a rock, just like he did! Then breakfast would start to burn and Q would have to take over and salvage whatever was left.

Just thinking about those times brought a smile on his face.

“Hey. Dalton?” Willow started, pausing just long enough so he had time to come back to reality. “If you could make a wish, any wish— and it would come true _one hundred percent_ , what would you wish for?”

“Oh, easy!” He said, shoving the last bit of his slimeapple into his mouth. “I woulb wish f’r us to go questing foreber!”

Willow knit her eyebrows together, mouth flattening to a thin line. “You’d wish for the world to be in perpetual chaos and on the brink of disaster?”

He stopped mid-chew. “Uhhhhh...” And with Willow’s dejected sigh, he thought quickly but spoke faster: “Well, what would _you_ wish for?”

It was a stupid question. They both knew what she’d wish for, just as much as they both knew she would never tell him what it was.

And maybe it was for the best.


End file.
